Foreword. Who Really Lied? The Turks, Armenians, and Jews Revisited

Abstract

This book is a major contribution to the study of the Armenian Genocide and the process of denial of known genocides altogether. Three major scholars of genocide also contributed to the writing of the book: Ragip Zarakolou (a Turk); Richard Hovannisian (an Armenian); and Michael Berenbaum (a Jew). Bringing in these three leaders in their various ethnic groups is a very symbolic, meaningful and wise decision, each of them being a distinguished representative both of their identity groups and of the quest for human decency. A big part of the book deals with issues concerning the 1982 conference in Tel Aviv. Charny was probably the first one to use the concepts of “Holocaust” and “genocide” together, instead of the concepts of “Holocaust” and “genocide” separately. This new notion is meaningful in the study of the Holocaust and in the study of genocide, as well as in the interrelations between them. By using comprehensive new sources and newly declassified government documents, Charny gives new perspectives on the hostile attitude of Turkey and Israel towards the conference. He analyzes the development of the pioneering international conference on genocide that was a milestone event in the struggle against denials of historically known genocides. Charny has been dealing with the domain of individual denial and collective denial for many years.